Lincoln Park Jewish Center

About Our Shul, Lincoln Park Jewish Center

Synagogues are the central institution that has held our people together regardless of where we have lived for the past two thousand years. Even during times of persecution when their very lives were threatened, our ancestors organized small yet powerful places where they could congregate for prayer and companionship. These synagogues gave them a sense of hope and community that helped us overcome what ever trials or tribulations faced us. In other places, during happier times, our synagogues were bolder, fancier places. They were the pride of their community, serving as a source of strength to all who entered.
Lincoln Park Jewish Center

During the times when the Jewish people lived in the Land of Israel, the primary House of Worship was the Holy Temple of Jerusalem situated where the Islamic Dome of the Rock stands today. The Temple was then the central place for the nation to gather in service of God. Here the Leviim (levites) sang songs of praise to the One God of Israel and the Cohanim offered the sacrifices in service to God. The Temple was a central focus as the House of God for all of Israel. To this day no matter where Jews find themselves in prayer they face in the direction of Jerusalem, in order to focus their prayers towards the place of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. The function of the Temple in Jewish life was so important that, when the Holy Temple was destroyed by the Roman Legions, it would have been logical to assume that that would have been the end of the Jewish Religion and of the Jewish People as a thriving culture. But that is not what happened. During the two thousand years following the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash (Holy Temple) we developed synagogues that were